From Tottenham to Bristol: My FA Cup Journey
10.10.23, 16:40 Updated 14.06.25, 23:24
As a Tottenham fan growing up in the late 90's, when the FA Cup third round fixtures were announced, I had to listen to my dad reminiscing about the times he watched Tottenham win the FA Cup at Wembley. Paul Gascoigne’s free kick in the semi-final against Arsenal in 1991 always got a special mention, too. I lived in hope that I’d get to enjoy this kind of experience.
Strangely, my first memories of the FA Cup don’t involve Tottenham at all. Instead, my mind goes back to the 1997 final, where Chelsea beat Middlesbrough 2-0 under the old Wembley arches. I couldn’t watch it live, so I recorded it on a VHS tape and tried to avoid seeing the score. My plan was going well until I walked into the living room at the exact moment the sports bulletin started.
I watched quite a few FA Cup ties at White Hart Lane in my younger years. While I was aware there were stages before the third round, I used to think they were a bit pointless. As far as I was concerned, the "magic of the cup" didn't exist until Tottenham entered. After all, when drawn against lower-league opposition, Spurs almost always showed their class and won comfortably. The exception being the time we were almost knocked out by Wycombe Wanderers of League One in 2017.
However, in the late 2010s, I found myself falling out of love with football. I was going to Tottenham games expecting a win and coming away disappointed time and time again.
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